General practitioners' drug prescribing practice and diagnoses for prescribing: the Møre & Romsdal Prescription Study

We have examined the prescribing patterns among general practitioners (GPs) in a Norwegian county in relation to the patients' age and sex and the diagnosis for prescribing. Altogether 69,843 contacts with patients were recorded during which 56,758 items were prescribed. The average number of items prescribed per patient contact was 0.81 (male 0.76, female 0.83). Diazepam, the compound analgesic of paracetamol (i.e. acetaminophen) and codeine, and triazolam were the three most frequently prescribed drugs for females as compared to phenoxymethylpenicillin, paracetamol/codeine and diazepam for males. Insomnia was the most frequently recorded diagnosis for prescribing. Listed second were upper respiratory tract infections (males) and anxiety (females). Hypertension was the number three diagnosis. The twenty most frequently prescribed items accounted for 48.5% of all drugs prescribed and the twenty most frequently recorded diagnoses for prescribing accounted for 61.7% of all diagnoses. This makes it possible to analyze a substantial part of the GPs' total prescribing by focusing on a few drugs or diagnoses.